Mirai Death
by Jessi Lynn
Summary: Based in the Mirai universe. Depressing telling of the death of Piccolo, and Gohan's reation to his death. Later, Gohan's death, and Trunks's rather similar reaction. Very angsty (and a bit gory), but the ending could be classified as happy. Sort of.


This is a story featuring the often ignored Mirai Gohan, and his relationship with Piccolo takes up a large portion of this story. There's also some interaction with Trunks thrown in. This portrays my view of what happened to the Z-Senshi when the androids arrived, and later. Some parts are modeled after The History of Trunks. Sorry, but the descriptions of their deaths are rather gruesome. Let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy! Review, as always.  
  
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Mirai Death  
  
Jessica Lynn  
  
pms_personified@hotmail.com  
  
  
  
Piccolo silently watched the ebony-haired young boy peacefully sleeping by the fire. He really shouldn't be away from home so much, away from the mother who needed him. He had been doing this often, since... Piccolo swallowed. 'Kuso!' He swore silently. 'Why did you have to die on him? He needs you still. He needs his father. I can't, I shouldn't, replace you...' Gohan stirred in his sleep, a frown creasing his young face.  
  
He muttered to himself. "Daddy... No..." His face screwed up in anguish and fat tears started to stream down his face.  
  
Piccolo scowled. 'Damn. He's having nightmares again.' He reached out and gently pushed the characteristic wild black locks off of his forehead, smoothing the creases on his forehead while his hair stubbornly returned to its usual spikes. Gohan's face quickly returned to a peaceful expression, soothed by his mentor's presence.  
  
Piccolo smirked in satisfaction, and looked out to the bright explosions brightening the night sky. The smile quickly left his face. 'I can't let this go on much longer...' He looked down at the ebony-haired boy next to him. 'I have to take out at least one of them. So he doesn't have to die too... He deserves a good life, even though who he is makes it about impossible...' Anger went into his face. Those... abominations... had killed millions already. The memories of the Z-Senshi's gruesome deaths were still fresh in his mind.  
  
Krillin, who had gone through the slow, painful torture of having his body slowly burned to death. His face was scrunched up in agony, his dead eyes staring blankly into the sky. The corpse was almost unrecognizable. It was so severely burned that the only way Piccolo knew who it was the tattered remains of a once orange gi.  
  
Vegeta had had an honorable death. The only one he would have. There was only one arm on his corpse, and all of his purple bruises and deep gashes proved he had gone down fighting, and the scorched rubble and scattered red splashes only made it even more obvious. A look of righteous fury was stamped on his face.  
  
Piccolo hadn't found Chaotsu; he could only assume that he had tried to take one of them out while sacrificing himself in an explosion of all his energy. It hadn't been enough.  
  
Tien laid face down on the ground with a huge hole through his chest, angry tears streaming down his face over the death of the one dearest to him.  
  
Yamucha had had his neck broken, leaving him paralyzed and useless sprawled on the ground. The cruel androids had malevolently left him alive and conscious to watch all of his friends die around him while he was helpless, lying there. He had still been alive when Piccolo arrived. The terrible anguish in his eyes... He had begged Piccolo to end it for him. Piccolo closed his eyes and took deep breaths and remembered the horror he had felt when he saw what they had done to his... Allies? Friends? His stomach turned. He had done for his friend this last request... It was the least he could have done for him.  
  
And he would avenge them. Even though he knew it would be the last thing he would ever do. He took one last tender look at Gohan, and knew it would be worth his death to give that young boy a chance to live. He flew off towards the explosions in the distance.  
  
***************  
  
"PICCOLO-SAN!!!!" Gohan screamed his surrogate father's name. The ten-year- old boy stumbled over the scorched rubble and violet blood that was mingling with mud and rain. The violet blood that belonged to the best friend he'd ever had. He tripped and fell down, only to get up and continue towards his mentor. Artificial Human 18 casually raised her hand to kill him.  
  
17 stopped her with his hand. "No, not yet. Let's let the little squirt survive so we can have some fun with him later," he intervened.  
  
"Fine." She pushed her cornsilk hair behind her ear in a casual sign of indifference. They both smirked. "See you in a few years, kid."  
  
Gohan ignored them, and continued shaking Piccolo, tears streaking down his face. 17 scowled and looked at him with his heartless eyes. He waved his hand in a dismissing manner, telling him silently that he would soon find himself dead, and flew off with his twin trailing behind.  
  
"Piccolo-san, no..." Gohan sobbed. "You can't leave me! Not after Dad... And everyone... Don't leave me alone!"  
  
Piccolo coughed up violet blood. It tricked out of the corner of his busted lip. "Gohan..." he rasped and opened one eye, the other being swollen shut. "Gohan, I'll never leave you. I'll always be... here..." He struggled to raise his hand, which was missing several fingers, and pressed it to Gohan's chest. "And... here..." He placed his hand on top of his head. He took in a gasping breath, trying to finish what he was doing. He refused to let Gohan go without saying what he needed to, to get him to go on with his precious life.  
  
"Piccolo-san..." Gohan sniffled and struggled for composure. "You're my best friend. I'll make you proud!" he stated with determination, his tears invisible in the rain. Piccolo gave him a small smile, the one that he only allowed Gohan to see. The smile that he had never been able to share before this little boy came into his life. His hand dropped, and his spirit faded out of existence, sending one last message to him.  
  
'Live.'  
  
"PICCOLO-SAN!!!!" A young boy too young to know sorrow curled up against his friend's side in the pouring rain, and cried brokenly until he had no more tears left.  
  
*****************  
  
Gohan stood off to one side as 14-year-old Trunks once again tried to reach the difficult level of a super saiya-jin. Energy poured off of him in waves, the wind tossing Gohan's already uncontrollable hair around. But yet again, despite all of his efforts, Trunks got invariably close then collapsed. Gohan walked over to him with a sigh. He reached over to help him up with his only arm. "You keep getting closer and closer, but it isn't good enough. You'll have to do better to beat the Artificial Humans. You're going to have to reach a level even higher than an super saiya-jin if you want to beat them."  
  
Trunks scowled and batted away the arm reaching out to help him and got up on his own. Gohan smiled in amusement. 'He looks exactly like Vegeta when he does that. He's turning out to be more and more like him every day!'  
  
Trunks interrupted his thoughts with a question. "Gohan-san, how did you reach super saiya-jin? You keep telling me I have to get angry. But what about you?" He gazed sharply at Gohan, eyes filled with curiosity.  
  
The smile on Gohan's face disappeared, and his eyes filled with anger and deep sorrow. "All I need to do is think about Piccolo's death. There isn't a thing on this god-forsaken planet that can make me angrier..." He clenched his fist, and trickles of blood started to drip off of his hands. Trunks had to strain to hear what he was saying.  
  
"Oh..." he said quietly. "I think... I think I understand. I would feel the same way if you ever died, Gohan-san." He looked up at him with wide blue eyes, almost portraying the innocence someone his age should still have. Almost.  
  
Gohan forced a smile on his face. "Hey kid, break over. Come on, back to work."  
  
"Hai!" Trunks jumped up, and they got back to sparring.  
  
*****************  
  
Gohan carefully carried the unconscious Trunks over his shoulder back to camp. "Looks like I was a bit too rough with you today..." he murmured, then smirked. "Vegeta would have been happy." He frowned. "The wounds aren't bad, but still..." He gently laid him onto the ground and lit a fire with a beam.  
  
As he crushed some herbs to make a paste for his cuts, Trunks scowled in his sleep.  
  
"Gonna kill you, monsters..."  
  
Gohan gazed at him silently and gently applied the paste to his back. "I know you will, Kid. I'm sure you will..."  
  
He smiled slowly.  
  
*****************  
  
Gohan lay back with his hands supporting his head and watched the sunset on the plateau with Trunks.  
  
Suddenly thousands of human ki signatures winked out in the space of a second.  
  
Gohan jumped up, the slight smile disappearing, Trunks right behind him. He paled for a minute, then he looked furious. "Another city... Gone. Just like that. I can't TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!" He screamed and an incredible aura formed around him, his hair turning gold and his now turquoise eyes flashing with rage.  
  
"I'm coming with you!" Trunks spoke up with determination coloring his voice. The young boy clenched and unclenched his fists, afraid but not willing to admit it, even to himself. He lifted his chin proudly and narrowed his eyes.  
  
"No," Gohan said flatly. "I'm not risking you."  
  
"You can't stop me!" He had a stubborn, just-try-and-make-me look on his face, and stared his mentor down.  
  
Gohan blinked. 'Hmm...' He forced a smile on his face. "Okay." He said with fake cheer. "You can come."  
  
"Yes!" Trunks grinned in satisfaction. He was too pleased and proud of himself to see the hand strike him at the base of his neck, knocking him unconscious.  
  
Gohan gave a sad smile. "Sorry kid. But you're our last hope. You can't die with me." With one final look behind him, he flew away to imminent death.  
  
*****************  
  
Trunks woke up with a start. "Gohan-san...?" He looked around frantically. "No!"  
  
He flew as fast as he was able towards the recently destroyed city. As he flew in the rain over the remaining rubble of buildings and mangled bodies strewn about in bloody heaps everywhere, he began to get a feeling of deep dread in his heart. He concentrated and tried to find his friend's ki. He couldn't. He scanned his wide, frightened eyes all over the ground, looking carefully at every body, even dead, even though he prayed that each wasn't him. The rubble of the once proud and strong buildings no longer stood, proving in their destruction the desolate and hopeless situation the world was in. His eyes began to water with the effort of concentrating so hard on every detail.  
  
And then he spotted the body.  
  
He stared with uncomprehending eyes and fell from the sky and landed with a bone-jarring thump, unable to concentrate on keeping himself in the air.  
  
"Gohan-san..." That was all he could manage to say as he slowly stumbled towards the body of his mentor lying face-down in a puddle, wide eyes staring blankly out at nothing.  
  
"Gohan-san..." Tears ran down his face, mingling with the rain.  
  
"Gohan-san!" He ran to Gohan and began to shake him. "Gohan-!" His eyes filled with tears, and they slowly dropped onto Gohan's bloody and mangled body.  
  
"You can't be dead..." He jumped up.  
  
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"  
  
He screamed in anguish, his hair turning gold as he finally, and somewhat ironically, became a super saiya-jin. Energy radiated off of his body in waves of gold light, wind whipping his hair around his face and throwing nearby debris around the destroyed city. Then he dropped out of the transformation, his hair changing back to lavender, and collapsed next to the only father he had ever known, far too much resembling the terrified little boy of 13 years before.  
  
*****************  
  
Piccolo concentrated on his energy and began to meditate, the wind slowly swirling around him. As he floated in the air with his legs crossed next to King Kai's house, he reflected that meditating was one of the few things to do in the afterlife; that, and fight. As he slipped into concentration he could still hear the sounds of Vegeta and Goku sparring in the background, destroying the landscape, much to King Kai's dismay. 'They never give it up.' he thought, and smirked. 'After almost 10 years being dead, they're both still determined to get stronger and stronger... Even when they don't have to worry about enemies. You'd think they would've realized that by now....' It had taken a lot of persuasion, effort, and pestering from Goku to get Vegeta out of Hell. 'And the little vegetable didn't even thank us. He just grabbed Son by the neck and told him that his life had been his, and he was supposed to die by his hands, so now he owned him in the afterlife... Figures.' He went even deeper into his stupor. 'God, I miss Gohan... The kid had better still be alright...' All thought stopped after that.  
  
Damn it, not yet! Piccolo's eyes shot open. That voice... 'Gohan...' He flew towards Enma's palace, quickly flying over the lazy long curves of Snake Way. 'It can't be... He's only 23! The androids had to have gotten him...'  
  
"Oy, Piccolo! Where are you going?!" Goku called out. Piccolo ignored him.  
  
"No... It's too early..." He muttered. Enma's palace came into view, and Piccolo could easily see the large stature of Enma sitting at his desk. He could just barely make out Gohan's form. He landed next to him, Enma blinking in surprise.  
  
The young man had been staring at his arm, and he looked up at Piccolo. He could tell in his eyes that his worst suspicions had been confirmed.  
  
"I'm dead." He stated simply. Piccolo nodded. He looked at his surrogate father with a sad smile. "It's over for me."  
  
"It's good to see you, kid." Piccolo said quietly.  
  
"You too, Piccolo-san." Piccolo scowled angrily and grabbed him by the collar of his training gi. He pulled him up to eye level and shook him.  
  
"It's too early! Why did you let yourself get killed by them?! You were supposed to be able to kill them!"  
  
Once again, the sad smile. "The same reason you did." He looked up at Piccolo with wisdom in his eyes. "Because there was one who needed to live."  
  
Piccolo held down the choke in his throat that surfaced when he thought of the kind of death that Gohan must have had. 'I will not make it worse for him. I will not.'  
  
Gohan started to absently rub on one of his arms. "Trunks is all alone now... He'll mourn, but he'll live. He'll fight, and I know he has the potential to one day defeat them. Vegeta will be proud of his son." Piccolo smiled slowly at the words that could have been his own.  
  
"You did a good job, kid. I'm proud of you." Gohan gave him the classic Son Grin, that was somewhat tainted from the old terror and unwanted wisdom of the world in his sad eyes.  
  
"I missed you, Piccolo-san." Piccolo slowly reached his hand out and ruffled his hair in what could be called affection. They smiled at each other.  
  
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Some of you, if you had access to the knowledge, might have noticed that I did the Japanese version of Gohan's death. In the American version, he was talking the entire time he was walking over to his body. - To me, it spoiled the mood. This version is much more depressing, the way it should have been. Bye for now, and let me know what you think! 


End file.
